Leena Peltonen-Palotie (16 June 1952 – 11 March 2010) was a Finnish geneticist who contributed to the identification of 15 genes for

Finnish heritage disease A Finnish heritage disease is a genetic disease or disorder that is significantly more common in people whose ancestors were ethnic Finns, natives of Finland and Sweden ( Meänmaa) and Russia ( Karelia and Ingria). There are 36 rare diseases regar ...

s, including arterial hypertension,

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

, lactose intolerance,

arthrosis Osteoarthritis (OA) is a type of degenerative joint disease that results from breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone which affects 1 in 7 adults in the United States. It is believed to be the fourth leading cause of disability in the w ...

and

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

. She was considered one of the world's leading molecular geneticists.

Biography

Peltonen-Palotie was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, but her family moved to

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

when she was just five years old. She completed her secondary education at the Finnish Co-educational Lycée of Oulu, graduating in 1971. Peltonen-Palotie went on to study medicine, receiving her Licentiate of Medicine degree in 1976, and completed her

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

thesis at the

University of Oulu The University of Oulu ( fi, Oulun yliopisto) is one of the largest universities in Finland, located in the city of Oulu. It was founded on July 8, 1958. The university has around 13,000 students and 2,900 staff. 21 International Master's P ...

in 1978. Peltonen-Palotie worked at the

National Public Health Institute of Finland The National Public Health Institute of Finland (KTL, fi, Kansanterveyslaitos, sv, Folkhälsoinstitutet) was a research and expert institute under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health charged with the task of protecting and promoting health ...

1987–1998. From 1998 to 2002 she helped found the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Department of Human Genetics. She had a professorial position in the

Academy of Finland The Academy of Finland ( fi, Suomen Akatemia, sv, Finlands Akademi) is a governmental funding body for scientific research in Finland. It is based in Helsinki. Yearly, the Academy administers over 260 million euros to Finnish research activities. O ...

since 2003. In April 2005 Peltonen-Palotie was employed in the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

and the

. She was also the project director in the EU project GenomEUtwin that was formed to define and characterize the genetic components in the background of different diseases. In 2004 she became a member of the Board of Directors of Orion Corporation, the largest Finnish pharmaceutical company. In September 2007, Peltonen-Palotie joined the

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute The Wellcome Sanger Institute, previously known as The Sanger Centre and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust. It is located on the Wellcome G ...

as the head of Human Genetics. She also headed research groups at the

Broad Institute The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (IPA: , pronunciation respelling: ), often referred to as the Broad Institute, is a biomedical and genomic research center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U ...

of MIT and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Peltonen-Palotie published over 500 research articles and almost 80 invited articles, and mentored over 70

PhD student A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

s in her career. She died on 11 March 2010 from bone cancer.

Awards and honours

* In addition to many academic awards she received an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

from the Faculty of Medicine at University of Uppsala in 2000, * In 2004, the Finnish television show, ''

Suuret suomalaiset ''Suuret suomalaiset'' (''Great Finns'') was a 2004 television show broadcast in Finland by Yle (the Finnish Broadcasting Company), which determined the ''100 greatest Finns of all time'' according to the opinions of its viewers. The viewers were ...

'', listed Peltonen-Palotie as 77th of the 100 greatest Finns of all time. * In 2006, Peltonen-Palotie was awarded the Belgian ''Prix van Gysel'' and the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

''Stora Fernströmpriset'' prizes. In 2009, she was awarded the Finnish honorary title of Academician of Science. * On

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

2010, her achievements were honored in the form of a commemorative

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

issued by the Finnish Post. * The Leena Peltonen Prize for Excellence in Human Genetics is named in her honor.

References

External links

Palotie, Leena (1952–2010).
Kansallisbiografia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peltonen-Palotie, Leena 1952 births 2010 deaths Deaths from cancer in Finland Deaths from bone cancer Genetic epidemiologists Physicians from Helsinki University of Oulu alumni Wellcome Trust Finnish geneticists Finnish women physicians Finnish women scientists 20th-century Finnish physicians 20th-century women physicians Women geneticists Members of the National Academy of Medicine